Mellisa Z. Ncube, George M. Teke, Eugéne van Rensburg and Robert W. M. Pott*,
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs) are biosurfactants with applications in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and bioremediation. However, large-scale production using oil substrates complicates downstream recovery, resulting in low yields and high production costs. This study investigates aqueous two-phase extraction (ATPE) as an alternative recovery method. Alcohol/salt aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) were evaluated using ethanol, 1-propanol, and 2-propanol in combination with various anions (phosphate, sulfate, citrate, and tartrate), while varying pH, temperature, and salt concentrations. The 1-propanol/sulfate system achieved the highest MEL recovery of 83.4% in the alcohol-rich top phase. The addition of 2% (w/w) NaCl improved recovery to 86.4%, while 8% (w/w) NaCl decreased MEL recovery. Since U. maydis coproduces cellobiose lipids (CBLs), we demonstrate that an ethanol/tartrate system could effectively separate MELs from CBLs. Oleic acid, a key contaminant, was found to preferentially partition into the top phase, indicating the necessity for further purification. To validate the system, MELs produced by Ustilago maydis were recovered using the 1-propanol/sulfate ATPS, yielding 87.28% recovery. This study is the first to demonstrate ATPE for MEL recovery and separation from coproducts such as CBLs, offering a promising and scalable alternative to conventional purification methods in industrial biosurfactant production.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data is a monthly journal devoted to the publication of data obtained from both experiment and computation, which are viewed as complementary. It is the only American Chemical Society journal primarily concerned with articles containing data on the phase behavior and the physical, thermodynamic, and transport properties of well-defined materials, including complex mixtures of known compositions. While environmental and biological samples are of interest, their compositions must be known and reproducible. As a result, adsorption on natural product materials does not generally fit within the scope of Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data.